Yamaha Factory 4-stroke development program gains momentum at AirForce Canterbury Snocross
Development of the ground-breaking FXNytro four-stroke continued at the Air Force Canterbury WPSA Snocross Nationals in Shakopee, MN, Jan 11-13. During the holiday break the Yamaha Factory Snocross team has been busy testing and continuing to improve the radical new machines.
The team proved in Canterbury that they are heading in the right direction. Yamaha race team manager Greg Marier explains “We had some good races in qualifying, with Steve Taylor at the front of the pack when he pulled the holeshot. We have the power to handle this big track, but since we are also carrying more speed into the corners, we needed to adjust the sled balance to keep the skis planted when accelerating. We’ve been working with getting the machine in synch with Taylor’s finesse riding style, and since the last National we’ve been getting closer and closer to our goals.” No stranger to professional level racing, Transportation and Logistics Manager, OTSFF’s Andre Laurin, added “This is a development program and the team has made good progress. Our goals right now are to develop the machines and win a few qualifiers. The team’s morale is superb, and I can’t express from my end how great these guys are working together. I mean, the amount of R&D time here is double what we do in motocross. Mike Carver, Adam Robinson, Rolly Bartell and Joel Ferris have been putting in so many hours getting these machines dialed in.”
The Yamaha Minocqua team, with race team manager Masa Saito and rider Yuji Nakazawa assisting in development of the four-strokes, were also hard at work at Canterbury. “Every weekend we race we continue to develop,” says Saito. “Everything gets better step by step. It wasn’t perhaps the greatest weekend for racing, but very good for development and problem solving. We are going to do some regional racing before the X-games and are working on suspension calibration and getting the machine balanced. This was a very productive weekend for us.” Nakazawa started the weekend strongly but ended up having some bad luck. “The machine worked ok until somebody hit my clutch, two times!” Nakazawa said. “It was a bad track today, with very, very deep snow. Japanese tracks are different; no deep snow, just hard pack and natural bumps. I got seventh in round one, but in both round two and round three somebody hit me and the clutch broke. I’m ok, but it was bad luck.”
The snow was exceptionally deep and the strange conditions made setup difficult. Still, new machines and unusual track conditions didn’t faze either of the Yamaha Factory Snocross riders and Marier says “Both riders ran really well. Steve is in the best shape of his life, and Cory has come back amazing well after missing the first round.” Laurin adds “Cory’s class really has strong competition, and I was impressed at how he handled the sled for his first National round this season. Steve rode well too, with an impressive holeshot in his qualifier.”
Describing the track conditions, Cory says “Conditions weren’t ideal, very sugary, but for the first time back on the sled I felt pretty good. I had some bad luck Saturday and came off in the first round running third. I got sideways and my legs came off the sled and then I cartwheeled. By the time of the second round the alignment of the sled still wasn’t quite right. I got tangled with another rider on the start and got pushed to the outside edge and went from first to last, and you know how hard it is to make up time after a bad start like that. In the third round I got fourth.”
Steve Taylor had more luck, but was also surprised by the track conditions at Canterbury. “We kinda struggled all weekend, because we hadn’t ridden in this kind of snow before. In the first qualifier I was wheelying like crazy, and just couldn’t keep the skis down. It was a battle. Basically we did a lot of tuning and took a lot of notes for next time. The snow was really deep, and rough. Just sloppy artificial stuff, and it had been groomed to the point that when you landed it just poofed up all over the place. It was weird; I’ve ridden a lot of years and have never seen anything like it. In the straights the snow was up past your knees, and the back end would just sink whenever you touched the throttle. It got whooped-out big-time and holes just started popping up here and there the more we chewed it up.” Taylor was on the gas though, and charged his way to some great qualifying finishes. “Saturday I got a good second place start, and finished third in that moto. We got a couple decent starts on Sunday after making some adjustments to keep the front end down. I got a third, a sixth, and a fifth. In my LCQ I had a bad start and had to work my way forward after I got pushed off to the side. It was a tough track to make time on, because everyone’s lap times were really close.”
Pro Open: Round 1 |
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TJ Gulla |
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| 2 |
Ross Martin |
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| 3 |
Dennis Eckstrom |
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One thing that really stands out about the Yamaha Factory Snocross team is how excited the fans are about the FXNytro race sleds. “The crowd is really enthusiastic about the team,” says Taylor. “We did an autograph session yesterday for an hour, and we had done great in a qualifier and everyone was really pumped to see another color up there. Plus the four-stroke motor sounds so much different that it just captures people’s imagination.” Marier agrees, saying “There was a great crowd this weekend, and they love the sound of the four-strokes and have been really getting behind us!”
The team heads to Montana for round three, the West Yellowstone National, January 19-20, and are looking forward to another chance to watch their research and development learning curve skyrocket.
Pro Open: Round 2 |
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Ross Martin |
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| 2 |
TJ Gulla |
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| 3 |
Blair Morgan |
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Semi-Pro Open |
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Chris Kafka |
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| 2 |
Andrew Johnstad |
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| 3 |
Bobby LePage |
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